Jupiter-Saturn 2020: The Tipping Point

By Edith Hathaway © 2019

Many arenas of life are sweeping to a tipping point in Dec. 2020.  As we approach this tipping point, the excesses or weaknesses of any ideology become more obvious, as if they are ready to either explode or break.  Though many arenas are in play, among the most prominent is the battle between Nationalism and Globalism, with Nationalism and issues of national sovereignty generally supported by the Right, and Globalism and One World Government generally supported by the Left.

The Far Left has taken their ideology to further extremes by wanting to dispense altogether with Western civilization and its perceived “patriarchal hierarchy.”  The Far Right is always accused of racism and “white nationalism,” though it appears less and less rational to assign this label to “America First” GOP President Donald Trump. He has done more than any U.S. president in 50 years to reduce unemployment rates among minorities and women. He has renegotiated trade deals more favorable to the U.S. and brought back many jobs that had been lost to foreign countries with cheaper labor. The stock market is also at all time highs.  We will soon explore how Donald Trump’s presidency and the U.K.’s Brexit vote symbolize key dynamics leading up to Dec. 2020.

This tipping point in Dec. 2020 is marked astrologically by the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction on Dec. 21, 2020 at 6:20 Capricorn (sidereal zodiac/Lahiri ayanamsha).  Coinciding with the Winter Solstice in the Northern hemisphere, it is an especially powerful conjunction.  It becomes exact just 7 ½ hours after the Winter Solstice.  As we come to this important conjunction we want to know whether the trends of previous decades will continue unabated or whether they change course and are prone to reversal or modification in Dec. 2020.  This is because Dec. 2020 marks the fulcrum, or tipping point of an important 120-year cycle.

I have determined that some important trends do look prone to reversal and/or modification at this fulcrum point in 2020.  To approach this question I examined the core period of the EARTH cycle (120 years), when the 20-year JU-SA conjunction cycles are not in transition from the previous sign or to the subsequent sign (though there can be a rare anomaly, as in May 2000), and they run entirely in that one element, whether FIRE, EARTH, AIR or WATER.  When we compare this core EARTH period to the previous core periods in the WATER and FIRE elements, we look for whether the historical themes remain consistent throughout the core period of a particular element.  The strength of the JU-SA conjunction occurring at the fulcrum of the cycle is pivotal in determining how the rest of the core period proceeds.

As is clear from the graph above, the Dec. 2020 JU-SA conjunction occurs at the fulcrum of the core 120-year period.  The ways by which I measure the greatest strength of a JU-SA conjunction are if it is: 1) Vargottama (the planet repeats in the same sign in the Navamsha and other important sub-charts, thus usually strengthening it); 2) occurs at the Solstice, Equinox or the Galactic Center; and/or 3) comes to exactness three times, i.e. triple conjunctions.  Additionally, a conjunction gains some measure of strength by virtue of its position at the beginning or end of the core period.  This becomes far more emphatic if it also has one or more of the Standout Conjunction attributes. The Dec. 2020 conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn is a Standout Conjunction because it occurs at the Winter Solstice.  This should be within 24 hours or less, and in this case the range is 7 ½ hours.

We note the trends six to seven years prior to the conjunction – especially the JU-SA conjunction at the fulcrum – as those years can indicate whether a significant change is brewing. (Six years is half a Jupiter orbital cycle, and seven years is one quarter of a Saturn orbital cycle.) The closer we get to the conjunction, the more it becomes evident whether the reversal or modification in trend has enough strength to carry it onwards.  Of course the first several years after the fulcrum conjunction are also crucial.

In addition, we analyze recurring themes from within a few years of the JU-SA conjunction that happened 60 years earlier (Feb. 18, 1961) or even 120 years earlier (Nov. 28, 1901, the start of the 60-year FIRE to EARTH Mutation period).  In the U.S. several themes from near 1961 are recurring in a big way, as if they are being re-considered and re-negotiated.  Among those themes are: 1) globalization 2) national identity and the rightful powers of a nation-state; 3) immigration; 4) foreign aid, i.e. aid that the U.S. dispenses to foreign countries; 5) the proper role of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank; and 6) the integrity of U.S. intelligence agencies such as the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) and the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation).

One example is foreign aid. On Nov. 3, 1961 the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was formed. Its purpose was to administer civilian foreign aid and development assistance. It became one of the world’s largest official aid agencies, with a budget of over $27 billion.  Unfortunately, such aid started to become a regular political tool for enriching members of Congress and their families.  Most recently, in 2019, Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden have been accused of receiving very large payments in exchange for foreign aid extended to both the Ukraine and China.  And they are not alone in this practice. The Trump administration wants to make reforms in this ongoing corruption, which has not changed or improved since a 2002 American Economic Review analysis. It concluded that “increases in [foreign] aid are associated with contemporaneous increases in corruption,” and that “corruption is positively correlated with aid received from the United States.” Coming some 60 years after USAID was founded, Trump has a real chance to clean up this particular arena of corruption. If not, it can go even more out of control.

On a purely cultural note, the iconic American musical West Side Story (music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, choreography by Jerome Robbins) made its Broadway stage debut Sept. 26, 1957 and its movie debut Oct. 18, 1961.  Stephen Spielberg filmed a new movie version of West Side Story in summer 2019 that debuts Dec. 18, 2020.  With a 59-year span and a 2nd Saturn return from the original, this premiere so close to the Dec. 2020 Solstice and JU-SA conjunction in Capricorn is very auspicious.  It will also feature only Latinos in Latino roles, reflecting today’s multicultural shift from 1961, when Anglo actress Natalie Wood was cast as Maria, the Puerto Rican lead female role.

JU-SA CONJUNCTIONS – MAJOR MARKERS FOR THE COLLECTIVE

Astrology informs us that the 20-year Jupiter-Saturn conjunction cycles are pivotal in assessing socio-political-economic trends.  When those conjunctions occur in one element over many decades, in fact often over 200 years, we pay great attention to that element, whether it is FIRE, EARTH, AIR or WATER, and what are the likely themes due to the Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions in a given element.  The conjunctions (and therefore the larger cycle) will have different themes each time a given element becomes dominant.

We are now nearly 100 years into the 278-year EARTH period, when the 20-year JU-SA conjunction cycles dominate in sidereal EARTH signs (Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn).  It runs from Sept. 9, 1921 to April 7, 2199, when the AIR period officially begins with a JU-SA conjunction at 1:41 Aquarius.  The first JU-SA conjunction in EARTH (1921) was at 3:49 Virgo – ruled by Mercury, the communications planet.  It birthed many components of the Information Age that skyrocketed with the triple JU-SA conjunctions in Virgo 60 years later and the explosion of information technologies in 1980-1981.

This trend began in 1917-1919 with some of the most sophisticated outlays of public relations and advertising projects the world had ever seen.  When the U.S. entered World War I on April 7, 1917, the U.S. Committee on Public Information (CPI) was formed only six days later. Its purpose was to convince an Isolationist American citizenry that it was in their best interest for the U.S. to enter the war. Edward Bernays (1891-1995, “father of Public Relations”) was a part of the CPI and successfully rebranded the slaughter of WWI as “necessary and noble.” Bernays opposed “muckrakers,” i.e. reform oriented journalists.  As a participant in the 1919 Treaty of Versailles he realized that if you can successfully persuade a large pacifist public to enter a war, you can persuade them about anything. From then on he dedicated himself to managing public opinion by skillfully directing it. See his book Propaganda (1928). Now we have “social engineering,”  and magnified exponentially by 21st century information technology.

THE EARTH PERIOD: 1921-2199

The EARTH period promotes technology, its trade and exchange. The ability to manifest products and mass produce them efficiently comes into fruition in the EARTH period.  Products and expertise are increasingly used for military purposes or funded by the military. This period is marked by consolidation of resources, including many mergers of corporations into corporate conglomerates.  Corporate and banking conglomerates have more and more central power over policy, including the waging of wars. This is due to the maximizing of profits and the minimizing of competition, and is not confined to any one political party.

So far during the EARTH period, the global population has grown from 1.9 billion in 1921 to 7.7 billion in Dec. 2019, thus almost quadrupling in some 100 years. This is the largest population leap in world history. It took 126 years to increase from one billion in 1804 to 2 billion in 1927. And we can assume that material prosperity and technological advances have been positive factors in manifesting this reality.

In 1917, just a few years before the first JU-SA conjunction in EARTH (Sept. 1921) the hydraulic brake system was invented by a Scots-American later known as Malcolm Lockheed. This suddenly opened the doors for the mass production of automobiles.  The first passenger car to use this brake system was manufactured by Duesenberg in 1921. And though the first self-propelled motorized vehicle was invented in France in 1789, with more inventions throughout the 1800s, it took until the start of the EARTH period to bring the technology, the efficient practicality, and greater business and engineering skills that resulted in the first mass production of automobiles – this among many other items of modern day life: radio, television, and movies, to name a few that burgeoned after 1921.

Big fortunes and big bankers are pivotal in forging the socio-political-economic history of their times, most especially in the EARTH period when material security (Saturn) is a major theme. We see again and again how nation-states (Jupiter) and their individual citizens became more vulnerable the closer we came to the start of the EARTH period in Sept. 1921, and even more so after Feb. 1961.  In the EARTH period the fate of many nations was strongly influenced by the will of big bankers and industrialists, but especially bankers. So the nation-state has to keep fighting for its life in the EARTH period, though nation-states founded in the FIRE period are strongest, and those founded between 1901 and 1961 fare better than those formed after Feb. 1961. Shortly we will examine the astrological reasons for this, especially with Graha Yuddha.

Today’s Globalization trends also arose out of events surrounding the Sept. 9, 1921 JU-SA conjunction in Virgo. This includes the official incorporation of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) on July 29, 1921, just six weeks earlier, giving the CFR tremendous power. This organization still plays a huge role in setting national and international policy.  It wields a lot of behind-the-scenes control of the power centers of government and the mass media.  (Key figures from The Washington Post and CNN have long been CFR members, among others.) The CFR was pivotal in promoting the formation of the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency), which also uses its media “assets” to set policy and “manufacture consent,” to quote Edward Bernays.  Since 2000 this can be done even more effectively with 90% of major media owned by only six major corporations.

The CFR is the American branch of the secret society founded in the late 1800s by Cecil Rhodes (1853-1902). It was established with the driving force of anglophile American banker J.P. Morgan, Jr. (1867-1943) and generously supported by American banker magnate David Rockefeller, Sr. (1916-2017).  Cecil Rhodes was a diamond mining magnate who made one of the largest fortunes of the era in South Africa. In his Last Will and Testament (1902), he stated his wish to have the Anglo-Saxon race and English-speaking peoples dominate the earth and for the U.S. to return to governance by Great Britain. His fervent belief in the British Empire and a form of eugenics led him to dedicate most of his fortune towards this end.  (David Rockefeller, Sr. was also obsessed with eugenics.) Rhodes wanted to build such a universe without most people realizing it was happening. Ironically, such obvious racism is often assigned to the political Right, but Rhodes’ legacy of Globalism has been carried forward by supporters on the Left.  As we see, financiers care little which side of the political spectrum carries out their goals.

Cecil Rhodes was the first to coin the term “One World Government,” i.e. Globalism, and to this end he funded the program of Rhodes Scholars to groom young people who would carry out his Globalist ideals.  In turn, they would be likely to deny perpetrating any such thing.  The program was first implemented in 1903 and is ongoing, with candidates selected mostly from the U.K., U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa and India.  Among prominent American Rhodes scholars are former U.S. President Bill Clinton; MSNBC host Rachel Maddow; ABC host George Stephanopoulos; Susan Rice, National Security Director for President Barack Obama; Cory Booker, N.J. Senator and current Democratic Presidential candidate; Pete Buttigieg, current Democratic Presidential candidate; David Souter, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (1990-2009); Walter Isaacson, CNN President and CEO (2001-2003), Aspen Institute President (2003-2018); and Harvard Law professor Noah Feldman, recently called by Democrats to testify on why President Trump should be impeached.

Coincidentally, all of these Rhodes Scholars are either prominent Democratic politicians or well-known to be Left-leaning, if not support staff to Democratic Presidents or politicians.  Even David Souter, appointed by a Republican president (George H.W. Bush) to the Supreme Court as a presumably conservative justice, quickly became one of the staunchest Liberals of the court.  Generally, Leftists are favored as Rhodes Scholars, and they are usually selected by Leftists at mostly Leftist academic institutions. Though it was not always so obvious, it is now clear that leading Leftists are Globalists. They favor One World Government, socialism, mass migration to all nations, and the diminishment of the powers of any nation-state.  Instead, a small unelected cadre of people would be in control of running the world.

Another Rhodes Scholar is Richard Haass, President of the Council on Foreign Relations since 2003.  As noted, CFR is closely associated with Cecil Rhodes, his secret societies, and their goal of One World Government.  The minimal importance of nation-states under this socialist/Globalist orientation is especially concerning in the EARTH period, when nation-states (Jupiter) are more imperiled and corporate conglomerates (Saturn) gain strength.

Other important components of Globalization came earlier as well. The Federal Reserve Bank was officially created on Dec. 23, 1913 by an act of U.S. Congress, with 12 separate Federal Reserve Banks opening across the U.S. on Nov. 16, 1914.  This was seven years prior to the first JU-SA conjunction in EARTH (Sept. 1921), and within the appropriate time window to show an important upcoming trend. This revolutionized the banking system in the U.S. and the world, and not necessarily for the better. President Woodrow Wilson was selected, funded, and groomed to promote the Federal Reserve Bank. Thus did a handful of big bankers gain greater central control, enabling them to set policy from behind the scenes.

When the U.S. Federal Reserve Banks opened on Nov. 16, 1914, tr. Saturn and Pluto were within half a degree from each other in Gemini. The midpoint of this SA-PL conjunction was 8:58 Gemini, within 1’ of arc (1/60th of a degree) opposite the USA Ascendant at 8:59 Sagittarius (Kelleher chart).  And currently we are again approaching an exact Saturn-Pluto conjunction on Jan. 12, 2020 at 28:38 Sagittarius. The Dec. 26, 2019 eclipse at 9:58 Sagittarius is very close to the natal Sun at 8:53 Sagittarius of the Federal Reserve formation chart (Dec. 23, 1913) as well as the USA Ascendant at 8:59 Sagittarius.

So we may soon see some major action vis-à-vis the ongoing workings and structure of the Federal Reserve Bank. We may also see this as tr. Pluto enters the 2nd house (Capricorn) of income of the USA chart.  Though it will take 19 years for tr. Pluto to complete its transit through Capricorn, we should note when tr. Pluto is in the Vargottama sector of Capricorn. This occurs in certain sectors of each sign. In Capricorn it occurs in the first 3 degrees 20 minutes of the sign. Pluto transits through this sector for nearly 18 months: from Feb. 24 to June 28, 2020; and Dec. 31, 2020 to Feb. 19, 2022.  This is yet more indication of a possible monetary trend change surrounding the JU-SA conjunction Dec. 21, 2020. And as a fulcrum conjunction it is capable of indicating a change from previous trends.

The influence of bankers over the outcome of World War I is infamous, though little known, and soon after that, the Treaty of Versailles and the nascent Council on Foreign Relations gave yet more signals of the power that a few influential bankers and industrialists would wield, even in a democracy. In the EARTH period, it is important that a nation-state look like a democracy, even if it is being run by an elite cabal.  This cabal has systematically funded their politicians and leaders of choice.  In this way their chosen policies can be carried out without hindrance.  However, they ran into trouble in Nov. 2016 when their chosen candidate did not win.

Whereas the FIRE period emphasizes the growth and stability of the nation-state, along with royalty and empires of certain nation-states, the EARTH period brings general weakness to both the nation-state and religion, with a greater trend towards the secular. This is due to a weakening of Jupiter’s strength in the EARTH period, while Saturn is very strong in EARTH, notably in Capricorn.  Jupiter rules over the nation-state, royalty and religion, as well as journalism, education and the law.  Saturn rules over business, corporations, corporate conglomerates, and material security, as well as weapons of defense, and democracy, or looking like a democracy.

Much of this can be seen from the Graha Yuddha (Planetary War) that occurs between Jupiter and Saturn in their exact conjunction. Graha Yuddha occurs only in Vedic astrology and when two planets are within one degree, either in the same sign or in adjacent signs. It can only occur between five planets: Mars, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn.  One planet is considered to defeat the other planet, greatly diminishing that planet’s ability to carry out its functions in the different realms of life assigned to each planet.

Saturn always defeats Jupiter in Graha Yuddha due to its advantage by size and importance.  Though Jupiter has greater mass than Saturn, Saturn is larger with its extensive system of rings around the planet.  Even so, Jupiter achieves better results in FIRE and WATER signs, where it owns a FIRE sign (Sagittarius) and a WATER sign (Pisces) and is exalted in another WATER sign (Cancer).  Saturn, meanwhile, does exceptionally well in EARTH and AIR signs, as it owns an EARTH sign (Capricorn) and an AIR sign (Aquarius) and is exalted in another AIR sign (Libra).  Thus Saturn is more dominant in EARTH and AIR periods, while Jupiter has some ability to prosper in FIRE and WATER periods.

Before returning to the core EARTH period, we will move on to reviewing some major events during the core WATER and FIRE periods.  We should also know a few thematic highlights of the AIR period for upcoming centuries.  AIR favors trade and commerce, communications and cultural exchanges, with more cultural reciprocity and less subjugation of other cultures and nations. There is always a danger of dogmatism in the AIR period, but as long as it remains minimal there is an exchange of scientific ideas, of language, literature and the arts.  Rational thought flourishes, with an intense desire to learn and cross-pollinate with other cultures. Commerce is featured, since AIR is associated with the Vaishyas, or the merchant and trading class.

CORE OF THE FIRE PERIOD: 1782 to 1901

The sequence of the periods, as in their sequence in the zodiac, is always meaningful.  For instance, FIRE builds patriotism and overtly nationalist aspirations in the midst of colonial empire. There are new territories and trading realms conquered or defended through militarism.  Religion and loyalty to a monarch are still major factors, while major military weapons are invented, including gunpowder and all known chemical explosives.  Following the FIRE period, the momentum from FIRE to EARTH gives a particular ability during the EARTH period for certain nations or tribes to dominate because they have superior weapons.  Witness the Mongolians, or Moguls, in an earlier EARTH period. They utilized the gunpowder invented in the 9th century to invent many of their own weapons, including the hand grenade.  As fierce warriors they ruled from 1206 to the 1340s over the largest contiguous empire in world history. They prospered in many ways, including from their lucrative trade across the 4000-mile (6400 km.) long Silk Road.

As we look now at the most recent FIRE period (1723 to 1921), we note there are three “standout conjunctions” of Jupiter and Saturn prior to the fulcrum conjunction in 1841.  The graph above shows the core FIRE period, which runs inside the two Mutation periods from one sign to the next.  The core period runs 119 years, from 1782 to 1901. The beginning, middle and end of the core period are all conjunctions in Sagittarius.  The JU-SA conjunction of 1782 gains strength by virtue of occurring at the Galactic Center, and because of that I consider that the American Revolutionary War dragged on for six years from 1776.  Though Independence had been declared by brave American colonists in July 1776, it was by no means certain that this independence would be won.  Nor did at least 20% of colonists want to split from Great Britain’s rule.  They called themselves Loyalists, though their enemies called them Tories. The quest for independence was not finally won until after the powerful JU-SA conjunction on Nov. 5, 1782 at 7:18 Sagittarius, at the Galactic Center. The full thrust of the FIRE period from Nov. 1782 would give more power to the founding of nation-states, especially since Sagittarius is probably the best sign in the zodiac for nation-states, and certainly the most auspicious FIRE sign.

Indeed, only a few months after that conjunction King George III announced the Cessation of Hostilities in the American Revolutionary War.  That was in Feb. 1783. The American colonies had won their battle for independence, though the new nation would be tested several more times by Britain, including in the War of 1812 (1812-1815), when Britain armed and supported the American native Indians. They in turn attacked American settlers attempting to expand westward across the continent.

Each of the other JU-SA conjunctions from 1782 to 1841 symbolized some major turning point in the history of an ever-expanding nation.  One year after the 1802 conjunction marked the Louisiana Purchase, which doubled the size of the U.S. Two years after the 1821 conjunction in Aries came The Monroe Doctrine, this after Spain and Great Britain were challenging the expansion of U.S. territories across the North American continent. But then in 1841 there was a minor challenge to this expansionist trend. President Harrison died one month into office and his anti-expansionist Vice President John Tyler assumed the Presidency.  However, this hiatus was short-lived. In 1844 James Polk was elected U.S. President, and he acquired vast territories for the U.S. and completed the annexation of Texas.  His famous “Manifest Destiny” (1845) stated that the U.S. had a duty and a right to extend its influence and territory across North America.

This nation-building and expansionist trend continued, including with the unification of Germany in 1871, and with large empires such as the British and Russian Empires.   It continued past the fulcrum point in 1841 right up to the end of the core FIRE period Nov. 28, 1901. Queen Victoria died some 10 months earlier on Jan. 22, 1901.  There were no triple conjunctions for extra acceleration and intensity (as in the 20th century), and no anomalies to the core FIRE period.  So we see how there were no changes in trend after 1841, which has no extra power and has none of the attributes of the Standout Conjunctions.

CORE OF THE WATER PERIOD: 1544 to 1702

The core WATER period from 1544 to 1702 saw the triumph of the top sea-faring nations.  Naval supremacy and ship-building were of paramount importance.  It was preceded in the AIR to WATER mutation period (1425 to 1544) by the great sea voyages of Spain’s Christopher Columbus in 1492 and Portugal’s Vasco de Gama in 1499.  Columbus was funded by Queen Isabella of Spain, after two years of making his case for the journey to what turned out to be the American continent.  Vasco de Gama discovered a sea route to India, making his headquarters in Goa in 1510.  It was to remain a Portuguese territory up to 1961.

Columbus undertook his journey for the glory of Spain and of Christendom.  The WATER period favors the strength and growth of religion, with religion and royalty closely tied.  The Pope’s blessing was essential to seal a royal marriage, such as that of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain.  Sea voyages were undertaken for the glory of royalty and religion, and usually to expand Christianity or Islam. In the process, there was the subjugation and destruction of other peoples and cultures for religion and royalty.

There are also longer gestation periods in most areas of life during the WATER period, or during Mutation periods involving WATER.  For instance, during the AIR to WATER Mutation period (1425-1544), the printing press was invented in Europe by Johannes Gutenberg ca. 1440, and the first book to be printed on it was the Bible.  (Prior to that a similar printing method existed in China from 1040 and in Korea ca. 1230, but it was unknown in Europe.)  The point is that printing presses were very slowly available over the next few centuries, and printed matter featured mainly Bibles and religious treatises.  The world was not transitioning quickly from an oral culture to one of books and literacy.

Typical of this slower gestation rhythm, the 158-year core WATER period (1544 to 1702) runs longer than the core periods of either EARTH or FIRE, and it shows no major change of trends from the dominance of religion and royalty.  There were major wars to determine which royal family would dominate. During some of the previous AIR to WATER Mutation period was the Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453), in which England and France endured a dynastic struggle to establish which royal line would have control of their countries and surrounding territories.  During the Wars of the Roses (1455-1485) the dynastic conflicts were fought in England to determine which royal house would rule over England, the House of York (the white rose) or the House of Lancaster (the red rose).

The Glorious Revolution of 1688 occurred six years after the triple WATER conjunctions of 1682 in Cancer. This was the one conjunction in the entire core WATER period that was marked by extra strength.  Cancer rules over families and nations, so it favored both, and it came after the long stretch between the JU-SA conjunctions in Scorpio when the plague decimated large population centers, including in London and Italy. It was believed to be caused by flea-bearing rodents.  But by 1688 and the Glorious Revolution, William III of Holland (a Dutch Protestant) was crowned British King, and King James II (a Roman Catholic) was deposed and fled to France.  His daughter Mary (a Protestant) was married to William III (also called William of Orange) and this finally broke the power of the Papacy to control British royalty and British life.  William and Mary were very fortunate to be living with the backdrop of the triple JU-SA conjunctions in Cancer.  Yet the ongoing theme of the entire core WATER period remained one of royalty and religion. It was just a question of which king and which religion.

Close to the fulcrum JU-SA conjunction in 1623 some of the first English settlers arrived in North America, and that began the slow and steady stream of immigrants from Europe who travelled to the New World to settle in the British colonies.  But there was not yet any sense of breaking from British rule.  That would come more strongly in the FIRE period.  The first colonists were often very religious and very loyal to the British crown, and 20% of the population remained so as of 1776.  But in the 1600s others were escaping from some perceived tyranny in Europe, often connected to religion. This was also the era in which Roman Catholicism was challenged by Protestantism. The Reformation was considered to begin in 1517 with Martin Luther (1483-1546), a German professor of Theology and his famous 95 Theses. When he translated the Bible into German vernacular, the Catholic monks could no longer wield such power over their parishioners.

BACK TO THE 20th CENTURY

Fast forward to the 20th and 21st centuries and we see how the power of weapons invented in the previous two FIRE periods enabled an escalation and acceleration in so many areas of weaponry. After a hiatus of some 1000 years from the previous FIRE period and the invention of gunpowder in late 9th century China, there was no known chemical explosive for some 1000 years until the next FIRE period.  The invention of nitro-glycerin in 1846 in Italy led to the invention of dynamite in 1867 by Alfred Nobel of Sweden. Nitro-glycerin was considered too unstable to work with until Nobel found a way to do it.  But to take former inventions and lift them out of relative obscurity and into major and expanded use, it would take the subsequent FIRE to EARTH Mutation period (1901-1961) merging with the EARTH period from 1921.  EARTH’s effectiveness through technology, high finance, marketing and manifestation of products would turn the tide.

This led to the invention of the Atom bomb in the early 1940s during the FIRE to EARTH Mutation period (1901-1961), resonating with the triple FIRE conjunctions in Aries, and later the workings of cyberspace, the Internet, cell phones and laptop computers in the 1980s and 1990s. The triple JU-SA conjunctions in 1980-1981 in Virgo (ruled by Mercury) brought forth the Information Age and the Surveillance State, which would not have been possible without the joining of the Atomic Age birthed in the 1940s and the Information Age birthed in the 1980s.

THE POWER OF THE CONJUNCTION AT THE FULCRUM: DEC. 2020

In the core FIRE and WATER periods that preceded the 20th century, we have seen that the trends were not reversed or modified at the fulcrum point halfway through the cycle.  The fulcrum conjunction in both cases lacked the power to do so, and thus the trends of those core periods continued on with no interruption.

But in the core EARTH period there IS a very strong Jupiter-Saturn conjunction at the fulcrum point, given that it occurs at the Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere.  We have already identified how one of the major themes of the EARTH period is Globalism and Globalization – the concept that all nations should be working together towards a One World Government – and how Nationalism comes into direct confrontation with Globalism because of its more and more obvious aims to weaken the nation-state.  Globalists want to minimize national borders and increase worldwide mass migration, as reiterated also by the United Nations and the Pope.  The obvious ensuing chaos for individual nation-states fits right into their objective of weakening nation-states and disempowering their citizens.  The U.N.’s Agenda 21 confirms their objectives, which in turn will be tested in 2020, 28 years (a Saturn cycle) after it was established.

Signaling in advance the power of this conjunction in Dec. 2020 were events starting at least by 2015, if not by 2016.  After decades of dissatisfaction with the strictures of being a member of the European Union, in June 2016 the U.K. voted for Brexit.  With 17.4 million people voting, it was the largest democratic mandate in British political history, and with a substantial margin of 52% to 48%.

Leaving the European Union is a pro-Nationhood, anti-Globalist action.  This is the first nation to leave the Globalist EU. The 2016 Brexit vote was followed by nearly four years of stalling and resistance to implementing the referendum.  Then just one year before the Dec. 2020 JU-SA conjunction the ultimate push for Brexit finally happened with the UK election on Dec. 12, 2019. Under the leadership of pro-Brexit Prime Minister Boris Johnson the Conservative Party won a huge victory – an 80 seat margin and the party’s biggest win since 1987.  Johnson now vows to implement the Brexit vote by Jan. 31, 2020.

Similarly, when President Donald Trump was elected in Nov. 2016, this was another blow to Globalism, though even more magnified due to America’s global and economic power.  Having campaigned for “America First,” Trump has kept his promises by pulling out of numerous Globalist enterprises and weakening others.  He has weakened the World Trade Organization, which used to intervene in trade wars and referee in cross-border commerce; and he has re-negotiated many trade imbalances between the U.S. and other nations that had not been addressed in decades. Coincidentally, arch-Globalist David Rockefeller, Sr. died at age 101, exactly two months after President Trump was inaugurated.

So Globalism was dealt two major blows in 2016 from which it has still not recovered, and may not. This no doubt accounts for the increased resistance by the Globalists (mostly Leftists) who are ever more urgently pushing for socialism, mass migration, weaker nation-states, and in the U.S. the removal of President Trump from power. They are amply funded by Leftist moguls such as George Soros, who also funds Antifa.

Looking at other themes no more than six to seven years prior to 2020, we note that mass immigration in 2015 became an increasingly urgent topic worldwide after mass migrations began from the war-torn Middle East. This in turn led to Europe being overwhelmed by immigrants, and the U.S. reconsidering its immigration laws that were last established under The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965.  But the push to reform U.S. immigration laws did not have any serious impetus until the Trump presidency began in Jan. 2017.  He faced ongoing opposition from Democrats who supported immigration reform as of 2006, but now opposed it. This was after years of out-of-control immigration and up to 29 million illegal immigrants living in the U.S. as of 2019. They now receive many taxpayer-funded benefits, notably in Democratic-run cities or states, called “Sanctuary cities” and “Sanctuary states.” There was a 300% increase in illegal immigrants to the U.S. just since 2014, six years before the next major JU-SA conjunction.

The 1965 U.S. law differed radically from previous immigration laws of the 1920s. For the first time it opened the doors to immigrants from Asia and Africa.  Immigrants from Latin America also increased, while those from Europe decreased.  U.S. demographics changed radically after Oct. 1965, with large increases in non-white populations and 18 million legal immigrants entering the U.S. over the next 30 years. As he signed it into law Democratic President Lyndon Johnson said the new law was “not revolutionary… It does not affect the lives of millions…. It will not reshape the structure of our daily lives or add importantly to either our wealth or our power.” How wrong he was. And perhaps he knew better, as non-whites tended to vote for Democrats.

A similar push is happening now by Democrats espousing Globalist policies for mass migration as the most “humane and compassionate” approach.  Democratic President Obama worked to promote the U.N. Global Compact on Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, as did leaders from Germany and France. But when the U.N. Compact was signed Dec. 10, 2018 in Morocco by 164 nations, it was Republican President Trump and leaders of ca. a dozen other nations who chose not to sign this agreement.  In the works since 2015, the agreement makes no distinction between legal and illegal immigration, and it declares mass immigration to be “inevitable, desirable and necessary.”  According to the U.N. agreement (which is legally non-binding), the media is instructed to accept and promote these concepts.

Thus is the theme of Globalism versus Nationalism a battle which is going on throughout the world, and showing itself lately especially in the U.S. and the U.K.  It will be crucial to the Nov. 2020 U.S. Presidential Election and has already shown itself in the U.K. election results of Dec. 12, 2019 – with a clear green light for Brexit.  President Trump now looks poised to win a second term in Nov. 2020, especially coinciding with the power of this fulcrum JU-SA conjunction.  The Democrats so far have not put forth a strong enough candidate to beat him, so they have been doing everything in their power to remove him from office.  Congressional Democrats have had considerable help from their allies in the Department of Justice, the FBI, CIA, and of course the mainstream mass media, notably CNN, MSNBC, The Washington Post, and The New York Times, among others. These are powerful allies, but then President Trump is no ordinary president, and the 2020 JU-SA conjunction signals an extraordinary president who probably deals with significant odds.

Trump has promised to clean up “the swamp,” and many of them reside in the DOJ (Dept. of Justice), FBI, and CIA.  Fortunately, many have already been fired or resigned.  There is an increasingly long list. This is significant because it is the Globalists in the DOJ, FBI and CIA (many of them Obama appointees), who have been resisting the Trump presidency, working against his policies and working actively to try to remove him.

In the bigger picture we can look at this astrologically as a fight to maintain the steady drumbeat towards a dominant Globalist future from 2020; or resistance to this future by nation-states that do not decline and die, with their citizens being forced to capitulate to unelected global entities with now unprecedented powers of surveillance and control.  In the United States, only the U.S. Constitution is holding back the Globalists from tearing down the U.S. nation-state and along with it the national identity and its moral, religious, historical and cultural values.  President Trump stands firmly behind it, but the dominant Leftist mainstream media paints the opposite picture, as expected from a corrupt media.

The Dec. 26, 2019 eclipse in Sagittarius is very supportive to the nation-state, and helped the U.K. Brexiteers (i.e. the Conservative Party) to win a huge victory.  In the U.S., President Trump faces a House of Congress that has just voted for two articles of impeachment against him, in spite of only hearsay evidence and a flimsy, if not utterly baseless legal foundation.  Marking a truly dangerous precedent in U.S. history, the Democrats are pushing for impeachment in 2019 that so far is only increasing the level of support for Trump among many sectors of the population. They object to the endless maneuvers of the Democrats to name a crime and try to pin it on the sitting President.

So in general, the momentum looks to be towards nationhood and Nationalism and away from Globalism, as shown in the U.K. by Johnson’s huge victory and in the U.S. by increasing levels of support for Trump.  The arc of influence in the larger picture points to continued support for Prime Minister Boris Johnson in achieving a firm Brexit in the near future, and to a Trump victory in Nov. 2020, especially with a Presidential Election and Inauguration so close on either side of the JU-SA conjunction Dec. 21, 2020.  This fact historically conveys more than usual power and importance to the person elected to the presidency at that time.  The 2021 Inauguration chart only amplifies this theme.

The immense resistance to the Nationalists – as epitomized by opposition to Brexit and later Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the U.K., and to President Donald Trump in the U.S. –  is highly significant in and of itself, notably the increasingly desperate attempts to remove Trump from office.  This is a project which began the moment Trump was elected, just as the Establishment anti-Brexiteers stalled endlessly to implement the people’s vote from June 2016 in the U.K.  The intensity and virulence of this resistance, especially in the U.S. but echoed in the U.K. is seen in part through the roving bands of Globalist terrorists known on both continents as Antifa. They wear all black clothing, black head gear and masks, and they wield weapons to thwart and damage their opponents. They are marauders who should not be allowed on the streets, but they are the face of those who will gladly break the law (or you) to make sure your side does not win.

They are the public face, since there is no public face to those at the Big Tech companies who are stealthily and relentlessly attempting to silence all those who are not in line with the Globalist agenda. And this is the ugly face of those who want the EARTH period to accelerate towards Globalism.  They want us to move faster into chaos so that those few who want control of the One World Government can do so swiftly.  Enough with the historical and national identity, “we self-identify as anything or anyone we want,” say the fierce young Globalists.

But with Saturn so strong in Capricorn at the JU-SA conjunction in Dec. 2020, and at the Winter Solstice in the Northern hemisphere, it seems far less likely that these forces of chaos will win out.  Saturn is for order, structure, material prosperity (especially in Capricorn), and a contract between human beings that is both fair and reasonable.  Saturn also rules over democracy, or at least looking like a democracy.  Bearing that in mind, if a nation or tribe is totalitarian, how can it fake looking like a democracy?  The answer is that it cannot.

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Selected References

From the author:

  • Identifying Revolutionary Trends, lecture by the author given May 25, 2018 at the United Astrology Conference (UAC 2018) in Chicago, IL. This mp4 (PowerPoint with audio & PDF handout) runs 1 hr. 15 min. Available at https://edithhathaway.com/shop/
  • Immigration: The Defining Issue of the 2020 U.S. Election, Parts 1 & 2, Aug. 1, 2019. https://edithhathaway.com/articles/
  • In Search of Destiny: Biography, History, and Culture As Told Through Vedic Astrology, 2012. [See Chapter 1: Historical Context and Collective Destiny, pp. 1-56.]
  • Jupiter-Saturn 2020: Fulcrum of a 120-year Cycle, lecture by the author given Oct. 27, 2019 at the Future of Astrology conference, Dallas, TX. This mp4 (PowerPoint with audio) runs 2 hrs. 35 min. and includes 27 min. of Q & A with lecture attendees. Now available at https://edithhathaway.com/shop/

From other sources:

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[This article also appears in the Jan. 2020 issue of AstroLogic Magazine  and in the Fall Equinox 2020 issue of The CVA Journal. (CVA is The Council of Vedic Astrology.)] 

Copyright © 2019 by Edith Hathaway. All rights reserved.